Op-Ed: Media defends the West’s overthrow of Ukraine Special

Kiev
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As the Western media beats the drums of war to pursue oil and gas interests in Ukraine, it displays a level of blatant propaganda not seen since World War II. Contrary to official U.S. statements, Ukraine is anything but an independent nation now.

The open admission by Dennis Kucinich, former congressman and Democratic Party Presidential candidate, that the United States overthrew the government in Ukraine because of economic interests, has done nothing to curb the open propaganda pushing Europe to the brink of war. Kucinich stated that, if he had been president, he would not allow

Former Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich

SEIU International

USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy working with U.S. taxpayers’ money to knock off an elected government in Ukraine, which is what they did. I wouldn’t try to force the people of Ukraine into a deal with NATO against their interest or into a deal with the European Union, which is against their economic interest.

The leak of telephone conversations alleged to be between US assistant secretary of state Victoria Nuland and US ambassador to Kiev, Geoffrey Pyatt, shows active interference on the part of the United States in the Ukrainian government’s selection of officials.

Nuland: Good. I don't think [opposition leader] Klitsch should go into the government. I don't think it's necessary, I don't think it's a good idea.

Pyatt: Yeah. I guess... in terms of him not going into the government, just let him stay out and do his political homework and stuff. I'm just thinking in terms of sort of the process moving ahead we want to keep the moderate democrats together. The problem is going to be Tyahnybok [Oleh Tyahnybok, the other opposition leader] and his guys and I'm sure that's part of what [President Viktor] Yanukovych is calculating on all this.

Nuland: [Breaks in] I think Yats is the guy who's got the economic experience, the governing experience. He's the... what he needs is Klitsch and Tyahnybok on the outside. He needs to be talking to them four times a week, you know. I just think Klitsch going in... he's going to be at that level working for Yatseniuk, it's just not going to work.

[...]

Nuland: OK. He's [Jeff Feltman, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs] now gotten both [UN official Robert] Serry and [UN Secretary General] Ban Ki-moon to agree that Serry could come in Monday or Tuesday. So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and to have the UN help glue it and, you know, [expletive deleted] the EU.

Pyatt: No, exactly. And I think we've got to do something to make it stick together because you can be pretty sure that if it does start to gain altitude, that the Russians will be working behind the scenes to try to torpedo it.

These revelations have done nothing to slow the constant bombardment of citizens in the West about the alleged illegality of Russian activity. When the president of the United States said that a vote in Crimea would violate international law, the press did not question his assertion. President Barack Obama openly stated that

US President Barack Obama speaks about the situation in Ukraine on March 6, 2014

Mandel Ngan, AFP

The proposed referendum on the future of Crimea would violate the Ukrainian constitution and violate international law. Any discussion about the future of Ukraine must include the legitimate government of Ukraine. In 2014 we are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders.

The press did not question the fact that the president of the United States has come out against democracy in Crimea, nor did it question the president on the U.S. involvement in fomenting the revolution, nor did it qualify the president’s remarks by pointing out that Kiev’s current government seized power by force. The president’s remarks lay waste to a core value of the United States when it comes to self-determination. In the eyes of the world, the United States has publicly stated that the power of the bullet trumps the power of the ballot.

Even with the president’s healthy experience in violations of international law, he still seems unable to correctly identify one. The Parliament in Crimea has already voted overwhelmingly to join the Russian Federation.

The BBC even got into the act by running an “analysis” of Russia’s activity. The analysis completely ignores the apparent U.S. culpability in the overthrow of a democratically-elected leader. The analysis cites The Budapest Memorandum of 1994, but doesn’t mention that, under the cited memorandum, the elected leader of that nation that was ousted by the revolt has every authority to request the Russian Federation invade all of Ukraine because of the actions of the western powers in causing the unrest and interfering with the political independence of Ukraine.

As with most recent interventions of the West, the economic motivators are clear. Four days ago, Forbes participated in the push to remind the puppet government in Ukraine of what they need in regards to shale oil. Unsurprisingly, today the US-backed Minister of Economic Affairs announced that Shell’s deal for shale oil exploration in Ukraine would go through. There has been no official word on Chevron’s $10 billion deal in Ukraine, but it will most certainly be protected by the west’s new man in Kiev.

Map tracking latest developments in Ukraine

, AFP

Russia, for its part, is also pursuing its own interests in Ukraine, specifically in the region of Crimea, which maintains a massive majority of ethnic Russians. At least Russian President Vladimir Putin is open about the fact that he is pursuing his nation’s interests, and doesn’t seem to be attempting to hide his actions under the pretense of looking out for Kiev.

Vika Andreiko, a Ukrainian dissident, told Digital Journal that

Ukrainians are starting to see that they avoided the yoke of one oppressor simply to be chained down by the West. Many, including me, are disappointed by the outcome. We are back to the beginning and have simply traded Moscow for Washington.

The media continues to compare the situation to the Cold War. There are similarities; Russia and the West are using other nations as pawns, the only people that are injured are people that have no say in the situation, in both countries the media is cheerleading for its team, and a miscalculation on one nation’s part might kill thousands of people that simply want to be left alone. However, that’s where the comparisons end. There is no ideological war to cloak the actions; this is pure greed and domination. In the days of colonialism, the conqueror at least had the common decency to fly a flag. Today a nation’s people don’t know they’ve been subjugated until they see McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Chevron logos on every street corner and by then, it’s too late.

This opinion article was written by an independent writer. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not necessarily intended to reflect those of DigitalJournal.com